Road material mixing machine



April 2, 1946. B. H; FLYNN ROAD MATERIAL MIXING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet l B; H FLYNN ROAD MATERIAL MIXING. MACHINE Filed '7, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aprifi 2, 39460 a. H. FLYNN ROAD MATERIAL MIXING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 B. H. FLYNN ROAD MATERIAL MIXING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 QENHLUNNH v are .5 WW wn NN Patented Apr. 2, 1946 ROAD MATERIAL MIXING MACHINE Benjamin H. Flynn, Alexandria, La., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to The T. L. Smith Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wiscousin Application August 7, 1943, Serial No. 497,824 Claims. (01. 94-40) In my U. S. Patent No. 2,211,263, of August 13, 1940, I disclose a machine for such purposes as disintegrating an old roadway, mixing one or more liquid or dry ingredients with the disintegrated road material and leaving the mixed materials in readiness for compaction; disintegrating'a strip of natural soil, mixing one or more liquid or dry ingredients therewith and leaving the mixed materials ready for compaction; merely mixing materials spread upon a grade upon which a road is to be constructed and leaving them in readiness for compaction. Themachine as disclosed in the above mentioned patent, included a mobile frame to be propelled over the materials to be disintegrated and/or mixed, and front and rear rapidly driven rotary shafts on said frame having teeth for performing the desired operations.

The teeth on the rear shaft of the old machines were operable between vertical blades against which they crowded and rubbed the materials being mixed. This continual scouring and abrasive action necessarily made the blades rather shortlived and subject to bending and breakage when worn thin, and one object of the present invention is to provide an improved construction in which said blades are not necessary.

Another object is to provide an improved machine in which the materials being mixed are subjected to an effective rubbing or scrubbing action regardless of the omission of the aforesaid blades, and in which there is less rearward throwing of said materials.

In the old machine, both the front and rear toothed shafts were mountedon a rigid frame projecting rigidly rearward from an endless tread tractor, and the weight of these shafts and their teeth exerted quite a serious cantilever action tending to tilt the rear end of the machine downwardly. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved construction in which this tendency is overcome.

The teeth of both the front and rear shafts of the old machine tended to push the machine forwardly and thus made it more or less difiicult to properly regulate the speed of forward travel, and a still further aim is the provision of a novel machine free from this objection.

A further object is to provide for effective spraying of the materials, with water, asphaltic oil or other desired liquid.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, description being effected by reference. to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in longitudinal section showing the improved machine, the teeth on the front shaft being those closest to the observer, and the paddles on the rear shaft behind those closest to the observer, being omitted.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view partly in horizontal section of the rear portion of the machine, only the teeth at the ends of the front shaft and the paddles at the ends of the rear shaft being illustrated, the zones, however, occupied by the rest of the teeth and paddles being indicated by dot and dash lines.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are perspective views showing four different forms of mixing paddles which may be employed. r

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the peripheral surface of the rear shaft as if it were flattened into a plane, showing the preferred manner of positioning the mixing paddles on said shaft.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing that both the front and rear shafts may be driven counter-clockwise if desired instead of clockwise as in the preceding views, necessitating that said shafts be turned end for end.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing that the rear shaft may be driven counter-clockwise and the front shaft clockwise.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing that the rear shaft may be driven clockwise and the front shaft counter-clockwise.

Figs. 1 and 1 are fragmentary side elevations of the liquid spraying means.

In the drawings above briefly described, an endless tread tractor T is shown, although a tractor of other form could be employed, even a conventional truck. Two side members ll of a rigid frame are secured to and project rigidly rearward from the tractor T, th upper edges of said side members being connected by a suitable cover [2 and the rear ends of said members being connected by a transverse wall 13. The space under the cover l2 constitutes a hood M in the front portion of which a transverse rotary shaft i5 is mounted, said shaft having projecting teeth 16 for either disintegrating an old road or a strip of earth over which the machine is propelled, or for merely mixing spread materials upon a grade on which a road is to be constructed. The wall [3 is provided with a flexible strip 20 of rubber belting or the like which evenly spreads the mixed materials in readiness for compaction.

A rear transverse shaft 2| is mounted in the rear portion of the hood I 4 but need not be spaced from the front shaft l 5 as far as shown, said shaft 2| having a. plurality of projecting mixing paddles which are preferably of the form shown at 22 in most of the views. However, these paddles may be of the form shown at 22* in Fig. 4, of the form shown at 22 in Fig. 5, or the form shown at 22 in Fig. 6, or of other desired form.

In the present disclosure, both shafts l5 and 2! are provided with journal 23 at their ends which are rotatable in vertically adjustable bearings 24. Chain drives 25 and 26 are shown for the shafts l5 and 2| respectively, and these drives may drive both of said shafts clockwise as in Fig. 1, both of said shafts counter-clockwise as in Fig. 8, the

front shaft l5 clockwise and ther ear counter clockwise as in Fig. 9, or the front counter-clockwise and the rear clockwise as in Fig. 10. As the driving of the two chain drives 25 and. 26in the required direction or directions',' involves only a mechanics selection from appropriate knowri mechanisms, rather than requiring inventive ingenuity, I have not gone into detail with respect to the driving means.

All of the paddles 22, 22 22 or 22 arepitched with respect to the length of the shaft 21', being preferably at an angle of a'pproxirrlately 40 to said length. These paddles are by reference spiraled around or partly around the shaft in a plurality of rows as shown in Fig. 7. There may be any desired number of the paddles in each row and any desired number of rows, the paddles, however, being of course in such relation with each other that they will not skip any of the materials being mixed.

All of the paddles" illustrated, except the paddle 22 in Fig. 6, are slanted rearward-1y with respect to the direction of rotation of the shaft 2[, and the extent of slant may be from to 4 0 degrees. By pitching the paddles with respect to the lengthof the shaft 21, they are made to move the materials lengthwise ofsaid shaft, during rotation of the latter, and it is preferable to so pitch the paddles of the alternate rows that they will move the materials toward one end of the shaft and to pitch the paddles of the intervening rows so that they will move said materials toward the other end of said shaft. By thus working the materials back and forth as the machine progresses, thorough mixing is effected. By slanting the paddles rearwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of the shaft 2|, said paddles exert a rubbing or scrubbing action upon the materials which aids in proper mixing. Moreover, the paddleswi-ll not rearwardly throw the materials as far or as high as if teeth pitched as in the above identified patent, were used. Then too,- due to the rearward slanting of the paddles, they tend to continually thrust upwardly on the shaft 21;, relieving the side members ll of a great deal of the: weight of said paddles and the shaft 2t. Moreover, even when the shaft 21. is driven. in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and l0", the paddles do not have as much tendency to force machine forwardly, as the teeth used on the: rear" shaft in the patent above mentioned. Moreover, when the shaft 21 is drivenin the di rectiorr indicated by the arrows in Figs.- 8' and '9, the paddles exertvery' little drag on the forward motion of: the machine; It is to be recalledthat regardless of the direction which shaft 2! is rotated, thepaddles slant rearwardly with respect to the direction of'ro-tation and thus these paddles will always exert a rubbing or scrubbing action upon the materials being mixed.

When the front shaft ['5' is driven in the direc- 7 cutter is provided. The same holdstrue with respect to the rear shaft 2| and its paddles except that they do not constitute a cutter, performing a mixing function only, whereas the front shaft and its teeth do actually constitute a cutter in some instances, as well as a mixer.

.A transverse liquid spray pipe I! is shown mounted over the cover 12 above openings l8 in said cover, said pipe having valved nozzles IQ for directing fiat sprays downwardly upon the teeth rs at the rear side of the shaft f5, and other riozties to" for directing fiat sprays upon the paddles 22, 22' or 22 at the front side of the shaft 2 I. When forming a soil-cement mixture, wat'erthiis spr'ayedupon the teeth and paddles prevents the materials from accumulating: upon them as well as supplying necessary water for proper mixing. When asphaltio oil'sand the like are to be worked into the mixture, the front teeth ['6 of the shaft f5 are sprayed said' oils or the like. To acorriplish this, the pipe I! is removed, its nozzles it)" are removed, and other nozzles l9 are substituted (Fig; I The pipe if is then mounted over openings [8 as seen. in broken lines in Fig. l. When either set of the openings [8 and. [8 is being used, the other set is closed by suitably secured covers I8 All of the valves of the nozzles are simultaneously operable by means oi? suitable ogerating means, aportion of which is shown at It will be seen from the foregoing that an improved machine has beerr provided for carrying out the objects of the: invention. The machine L may be effectively used: for disintegrating an old and leaving the mixed materials in readiness for compaction; or it may be employed for disintegrating astrip of naturalsoil, mixing one or more liquid or dry ingredients therewith and leaving the mixed materials ready for compaction; or it may be employed for merely mixing materials spread upon a grade upon which a road is to be constructed and leaving the same readiness for compaction. Whenever the materials are of Such nature as to require more or less pulyerizing for proper mixing, the front rotary cutter will produce therequired pulveri'zing simultaneously with performing an initial mixing step, and the final mixing is performed by the pitched paddles of the rear shaft.

While the eneral construction and association of elements herein disclosedwill advantageously obtain the desired ends, attention is invited to the fact that the disclosure is illustrative rather than limiting, and particular attention be invited to the fact that although the; paddleoarrying shaft; M is shown as included a ma chine having a rotary cu is not essential that said paddle-carrying shaft be used eonjunction a cutter. For si m mixing materials spread upon a grade or the ike, a machine having the rotary shaft 21' with suitable paddles upon it, would suffice without any cutting means in advance.

The paddles 22, 22 22* or 22 may be mounted on the shaft 2| in any suitable way. It is preferable, however, to secure suitable angle brackets 30 to the shaft by cap screws 3| (see more particularly Figs. 3 to 6) and to fasten the paddles to said brackets by bolts 32. Only two cap screws for each bracket are shown and only two bolts for each paddle, but any desired number may be employed. Each paddle preferably has reinforcing ribs 33 straddling a portion of the bracket 30, and for better mixing each paddle may be perforated as at 34.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, a mobile frame having a downwardly open hood, a front transverse rotary shaft and a rear transverse rotary shaft mounted in said hood, disintegrating and mixing teeth on said front shaft, mixing paddles on said rear shaft, and means extending transversely of said frame for downwardly spraying a liquid upon the teeth at the rear side of said front shaft and upon the paddles at the front side of said rear shaft.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1; said liquid spray means comprising a single pipe extending transversely of said frame and having one set of nozzles for spraying said teeth, and a second set for spraying said paddles.

3. In a machine of the character described, a mobile frame having a downwardly opening hood, a front transverse rotary shaft and a rear transverse rotary shaft mounted in said hood, disintegrating teeth mounted on said front shaft, mixing paddles mounted on said rear shaft, means including a plurality of spray nozzles mounted transversely of said frame member and above said shafts for spraying liquid upon said teeth and paddles, certain of said nozzles being positioned to direct liquid upon the teeth of the forward shaft and certain others of said nozzles being positioned to direct liquid upon the paddles of the rear shaft, conduit means for supplying all of said nozzles with liquid, a valve for controlling flow of liquid to each nozzle, and control means common to all of said valves for opening and closing the valves simultaneously.

4. The apparatus described in claim 3 wherein said hood includes an upper Wall provided with a series of transversely disposed apertures, and wherein said nozzles are positioned to direct the liquid through said apertures onto the teeth and paddles, respectively.

5. In a machine of the character described, a mobile frame having a downwardly opening hood, a front transverse rotary shaft and a rear transverse rotary shaft mounted in the hood, disintegrating teeth mounted on said front shaft, mixing paddles mounted on said rear shaft, spray means including a plurality of transversely aligned nozzles mounted substantially vertically above the path of movement of the teeth on said front rotary shaft, certain of said nozzles being disposed to direct fluid substantially vertically downwardly onto the teeth of said front shaft, certain others of said nozzles being disposed to direct fluid laterally onto the paddles of said rear shaft, and conduit means for supplying liquid to said nozzles.

BENJAMIN H. FLYNN. 

